Proposals
by CBSlave737
Summary: Now updated with Maria's proposal and wedding. The ladies of the Avengers talk about their dream proposals and their other halves try to make them happen.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I own nothing related to these characters except for my dvd's.

Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff, although Avengers teammates, were not super close friends; so it was really surprising when Tony messaged her and asked her to meet him in a rarely used room a few floors down from the Avenger's common floor.

"What do you want Stark?" she asked when she walked in already playing with a knife.

Without preamble, or commenting on her knife, he said, "I need your help, and Pepper cannot find out."

"What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything, why do people always assume I did something?" he asked but not really expecting a reply. He was not disappointed on that front when all Natasha did was lift an eyebrow at him and deepen her frown.

"Okay fine, but I haven't done anything yet. I want to do something." He stopped to gauge her reaction but continued when none was forthcoming. "I want to propose to Pepper." He dropped his bombshell.

She continued to stare at him.

"Do you have something to say?" he prompted.

"Why do you need my help?"

"I want it to be everything Pepper has ever wanted, so I need you to get that information from her. If I ask her she will get suspicious and know I want to get married."

"So you want her to think you don't want to get married." She clarified.

"Exactly, I want it to be a surprise, but I also want her to say yes. This is why I need your help, do your super awesome, doesn't even realize its happening, interrogation thing and find out her dream proposal."

"If for some reason I say yes, what's in it for me?"

"You get to see two friends become even more insanely happy with each other and have a warm spot in your heart knowing you helped bring them together." He tried.

"No." she crossed her arms, still managing to keep the knife pointed at him.

"Figured that wouldn't work, fine, I'll be your punching bag for the next class of new SHIELD recruits."

"No."

"What do you want?"

"Access to a private plane, no pilot, just the plane."

"That's it? No problem."

"To be collected when I deem fit." She added.

"Yeah yeah, sure thing; so you'll help me?"

"Yes Stark, I'll help you. Pepper and I actually have plans tomorrow night with Maria."

"You do? Good."

Natasha turned and walked out of the room without a backwards glance. The next night, she kicked Clint off their floor by sending him to dinner on the common floor with the other guys.

"Save me some?" he asked giving her a kiss before leaving their bedroom while she changed after their late training session.

"Maybe." She smirked, shoving him towards the door.

Since they were just having a girl's night, Maria was bringing in a couple of pizzas and Pepper raided Tony's personal bar on their floor, and they were using Natasha's living room.

Several hours later there was only half a pizza left and although Natasha could hold her alcohol, the other two were feeling the effects of drinking some of Tony's best stuff.

"So Maria, how's the boyfriend?" Pepper asked.

"Everything is fine."

"Just fine, you aren't ready to move to the next step yet?"

"Next step, we're already living together, what more do you want?"

"Oh it's not what I want, but what you want. Are we going to be hearing wedding bells soon?"

"Oh, I don't think that's going to happen."

"And why not, you too live together, you love each other."

"Well by that reasoning, what about you and Tony. As long as you two have lived together and loved each other you have be married with children right now." Natasha cut in the conversation.

"What…we're not…no." Pepper strung together.

"Oh come on." Maria said. "You too have had to have had a conversation about this. Right?"

"Uh no, we haven't. We love each other, but with our—"

Natasha cut her off ,"his."

She stuck her tongue out at her friend, "our pasts, I don't want to push him into anything. I'm fine with the way things are."

"Even so, I'm sure you have thought about how you would like to be proposed too." Maria said.

"Not at all." Pepper said but at the shared looks of her friends, "Alright, yes I have imagined it, what woman hasn't?" she tried to defend herself.

"So?" Natasha prompted.

"So what?"

"How would you like to be proposed to?"

"I…I…I really haven't put that much thought into it." She tried to worm her way out.

"Pepper, all you do is plan. You probably have a notebook somewhere with ideas in it." Maria said with a laugh.

"Fine, I'll share but you have to share too."

"Fine." Maria said.

"And I don't have a notebook."

The other two settled back to hear Pepper's dream proposal.

She took a deep breath, "Okay, Tony loves the spotlight, loves the excitement of a crowd."

"Yeah we know." Maria stated with a knowing smirk.

"But I want my proposal to be a private thing, just us. We would be back in Malibu, and we would go out on our date night as usual and everything would appear normal. We would go for a walk along the beach and as we got ready for bed, he would tell me he forgot something downstairs in his workshop. He'd instruct me to get in bed and he would be right back, but after twenty minutes of waiting, I'd go downstairs to the dimly lit room. As I type in my code and walk into the room, the lights come up and I see Tony is sitting in his favorite swivel chair facing his computer screens. He's not working on them, the screen savers are up. I walk over and wrap my arms around his neck, he continues to sit there, not responding even when I place a kiss to his neck like he likes. He reaches up to disengage my arms and I step back as he backs the chair up to turn and face me. He makes some speech, because he loves to hear himself talk." She chuckles slightly.

"He never moves from the chair, but he pulls a ring out from his pocket while he talks and just asks me." She finishes with a grin.

"Wow." Maria says.

"It's nice but it doesn't seem like Tony's style. I figure if he ever does ask the question, he'd have it on a billboard, or written in the sky, or ask you in the middle of a restaurant." Natasha said.

"You're right; he does have a flair for the dramatic." Pepper agrees, but you asked for what my ideal proposal would be, not what Tony would probably do."

The ladies took a moment to refill their drinks.

"Okay, your turn Maria."

"Fine, but then Natasha has to do it too."

"That agreement did not include me." She said.

"Just go ahead and share yours, then we can break Natasha down." Pepper said.

"Good luck." Muttered Natasha with a slight smirk.

Maria narrowed her eyes at Natasha before starting her story.

"With the way my life is, I would love to have an old fashioned proposal. So he would have to ask for my father's blessing, which considering my father has been gone a long time now, he would have to go to Fury." They shared a laugh at that.

"Once he convinces Fury to bless our union, he has to decide where to do it. Since the first time we met was on the bridge of the Hellcarrier, that's a no go. Our first date ended up being dinner on the carrier, so that's out too. He finally just decides to create a new memory to go with what he hopes is the start of his new life. He invites me out for a date and when we get on the elevator, we go up and get off on the roof instead of the ground floor. He has lights strung up and a candle on the table set for two. A rolling cart holds a bunch of covered dishes. He leads me over to the table and after settling me in on my side of the table he pops open a bottle of wine. After fixing our drinks he proceeds to open most of the containers of food and dishes them out. We settle in to our dinner and when we both have finished our dinner he pulls out his ipod and after pushing a couple of buttons on it music begins softly playing from some unseen speakers.

Dance with me, he says offering me his hand. I let him lead me around the roof for a couple of songs before he leads me back over to the table. As I sit down in my seat he kneels next to me and as he tells me why he loves me he pulls the ring out and pops the question. Then to celebrate he refills our wine glasses and serves dessert.

And that's it. That's my proposal." She finished.

"I can totally see that happening." Pepper says."

"Me too." Natasha said.

"So how do you picture it?" Maria asked Natasha.

"I don't."

"Everyone has pictured it at one point or another."

"Look I don't have to picture it, I've lived mine." She dropped her bomb making Pepper choke on the wine she just tried to swallow.

While Pepper coughed, Maria reacted first. "What! When!"

"Are you okay?" Natasha asked Pepper, ignoring Maria's questions.

"Fine, fine, answer her."

"The only person that knew was Coulson. Clint proposed seven years ago and we've actually been married for almost six years."

"Details." Pepper demanded.

She took a deep breath before letting her secret out, "We were in Budapest, in the middle of a firefight. Clint had already met me on the ground and as this group of people closed in around us, I pulled out a smoke bomb and a flash bang and he pulled out a grappling arrow. I set off the devices and grabbed a hold of him around the waist as he shot his arrow and pulled us up as the arrow found purchase on the side of the building. We ended up crashing through a window and we could hear people yelling from below so we got up and made our way to the roof. We took a quick inventory of our remaining weapons and as I reloaded my guns we could hear screams closer to us. We took up residence behind an aging air unit and waited for them to start coming through the door before we started picking them off.

It was a never ending stream of bodies coming at us and as Clint prepared to fire one of his last remaining arrows he glanced at me and asked.

"Hey Nat! Marry me?" he yelled over the sounds of gun fire.

"Really Clint, now?" I didn't even spare a glance his way as I continued shooting.

"Why not?" he shot back as he let loose his next to last arrow.

"Besides the fact that, we're not in a relationship and we are currently in a fight for our lives, which will not end well if Coulson doesn't arrive soon." I yelled back.

At that moment we saw a jet coming toward us, luckily it was coming up behind the bad guys so they could not see it. I threw my last grenade into the doorway and right after that Clint fired in his last arrow equipped with an explosive head. We took off running toward the jet that was hovering off to the side of the building with the back hutch already open for us. Our feet had barely touched the jet's floor when the hatch was closing and we were taking off.

Once back on the carrier we were separated for medical and then debriefed about the botched op. He came to find me in the gym that night after everyone else had left for bed or their night shift duties. I followed him to one of his nests where we would be out of view of the cameras and as we set there in silence he reached over and took my hand.

"Tasha, I love you." He told me. "Marry me?" he asked simply.

I tried to pull my hand away but he grabbed onto my one with both hands and refused to let go. "Clint, we're not even dating, we've never slept together, we've never even talked about this."

"Just because we aren't in an active sexual relationship, doesn't mean we aren't in any way less committed to each other. I know in your own way you care for me, I know you love me too, but you're afraid of that feeling. But Nat, it's not a weakness; it's one of the greatest emotions in this world. Please give us a chance."

We sat there in silence as he let me think things through. After he shot down my concerns over our jobs and ruining our partnership I finally gave him an answer.

"Yes."

"Really?"

"It would be my genuine pleasure." I told him with a smile.

"God, I love you." He said leaning in to kiss me. He let go of my hand to pull out a simple engagement ring from his shirt pocket. I let him slide it on my finger before kissing him again.

Natasha came out of her memories to see her two friends staring at her.

"What?"

"You two are so…" Pepper broke off in a slight growl reaching to pour herself more wine.

"What?" Natasha asked again.

"That is so Hawkeye and Widow. Getting engaged in a firefight." Maria said, helping herself to the last of the wine.

"Technically we didn't get engaged until I said yes on the carrier." Natasha pointed out.

"Semantics, we all know you would have said yes on that rooftop if Coulson hadn't arrived right then."

"Maybe." She grinned. "It worked for us, and we dated for a year and a half before actually getting married."

"So I have a question." Pepper stated. "When are you going to tell the team you two are married?"

"Actually I think we will tell them soon. I mean, we have been teammates for over a year now."

"Wow, married super spies, it sounds like a movie." Maria said laughing.

"And married soldiers could be the sequel." Natasha shot back.

This led to Pepper putting down her wine glass and throwing a pillow at Natasha who caught it and through it at Maria, who tried to duck but ended up falling off the couch, still laughing.

"Okay, I think it's time to call it a night." Natasha said going over to help Maria get back up on the couch.

Natasha told Jarvis to tell the guys it was safe to come up as she set about cleaning up the living room. A few minutes later there was a brief knock on the door followed by the three guys entering to collect their ladies.

"Hey Pep, have fun?" Tony asked wrapping an arm around her to help steady her.

"Oh yeah, we learned some new things about each other tonight." She slurred.

"Oh really?" he smirked at her.

"Yep , but I can't tell you, per the women's handbook." She smirked right back.

"I might have drunk a bit more than planned." Maria said to her boyfriend as he made his way to her.

She stood up and then wobbled as she tried to step towards him. He wrapped his arm around her waist and slipping the other one around her knees he picked her up bridal style.

This made her break out laughing again. He raised an eyebrow at her, but she just shook her head.

"We started talking about some things and apparently needed liquid courage so; we all had a little bit more than planned." Natasha said by way of apology.

"It's fine, it's not often you three get to relax like this and just be normal women." He said as he joined Tony and Pepper at the elevator. He looked slightly uncomfortable as the other couple was wrapped in their own little world sharing looks and kisses.

"Hey you two, not until you get into your own floor." Clint said throwing a balled up napkin right at the back of Tony's head."

They disengaged a little bit as the elevator opened and Jarvis whisked them away.

Natasha joined Clint on the couch where he had pulled out a slice of cold pizza from the box on the coffee table.

"So how long did it take?" he asked around a mouthful of pizza.

"Once dinner was over, not that long. They should be happy with the info received." She stated curling into his side.

"Who knew that you would become a proposal planner?" he asked with a grin.

Natasha elbowed him slightly in the ribs, "Shut up Barton."

"Yes ma'am, Mrs. Barton ma'am." He said jerking straight up and throwing a salute up.

"You know I have a better thing for you to do with that mouth, other than fill the room with hot air."

"Oh yeah?" he grinned moving to stretch out on top of her on the couch.

"Yeah." She said lifting her head slightly to receive his kiss.

A/N: Okay I have a whole thing planned out in my head to actually bring Tony and Pepper's proposal to life, I was thinking of doing Maria's in a separate story or I may throw it in after Pepperony's story.

Please review and let me know if it is worth continuing or should I leave it at this.


	2. The Ring

A/N: I own nothing related to Marvel but my dvd's.

So I am continuing this because a few people have asked me too.

Natasha met Tony back in the same unused room as before to share the info she had learned.

"Okay Tony. She wants it to be private, just the two of you. She wants a normal date night in Malibu." She handed Tony the folder she had walked in with. "I wrote everything down for you. Just don't let her find it." Natasha warned.

"Thank you Natasha." He said opening the folder and starting to read before she had made it out of the room.

It was about two weeks later when Tony approached Natasha again needing her help.

"I need a woman's input." He explained. "Please." He added for good measure.

"Oh fine. If nothing comes up we can go Thursday, Pepper has meetings all day and Clint has a class to teach at SHIELD."

"Thank you."

So three days later found Tony and Natasha traveling to different high end jewelry stores looking at engagement rings.

"Okay, what about this one?" he asked as the man behind the counter came back from the in store vault with a ring Tony had selected the week before.

"Nice, but not her style." Was Natasha's reaction.

"We're running out of options." Tony said, discouragement coloring his words.

They had been to the top five stores in the city, according to Jarvis, had looked at modern and traditional settings. They had looked at diamond pieces and other gem stones as center pieces, but nothing had given him a 'yes, this is the one' reaction he was hoping for.

"Tony, have you considered designing your own ring?" she asked when the jeweler left to return the ring.

"Actually I did toss the idea around with Jarvis of making a ring that when she pushed the center stone it would expand into an Iron Woman suit."

"Seriously Tony?"

"What, I could invert the colors so we could be a matching set."

"Pepper would kill you." She deadpanned.

"Probably." He agreed, "so what now?"

"I have an idea, but it's going to take about a week for my part and you need to go back to the drawing board." She said as they climbed back into the car.

"Okay, what do you have in mind?"

"I have a certain stone in my possession that I would be willing to give you two carats and I'll have my jeweler cut it and set it once you finish the design." She said.

"And what stone might that be?"

"It's called Benitoite. I acquired it in the mid seventies."

Tony already had his phone out looking up the stone. After several minutes of him reading and muttering things he looked over and gave her a big grin.

"I think I know how you got it, and I appreciate the fact that you are willing to do this for us. Thank you."

"You're welcome Tony, Pepper is a great woman, and if you hurt her I'll hurt you."

"I have no doubt, but I'm going to try my hardest to keep her happy. I love her." He said.

"I know you do." She said in response, "but if you tell her where that stone came from, I'll hurt you."

"You're secret is safe with me."

When they got back to the tower Tony disappeared into his one of his labs and after having Jarvis lock it down he set to work on designing a ring worthy of Pepper Potts. He showed back up in the common dining room when Jarvis announced that Pepper had come home with dinner for the team.

"You look frustrated, everything okay?" Pepper asked him as he took his customary seat next to her.

"Yeah, just working on a new problem, can't quite figure it out yet." He responded giving her a kiss.

"Well you'll figure it out soon, I'm sure." She said with a smile. Squeezing his hand, "I'm glad you came up for dinner."

"I needed the break, I was starting to throw things." He smiled at her.

"What are you working on?" Bruce asked. "You didn't barge into my lab at all today."

"Just something, I may actually swing by and get your thoughts on it tomorrow."

Clint came in at that moment and dinner segued into other topics of discussion that Tony only half participated in as he continued to think about the ring.

Later that night as they were in bed, Pepper was asleep, when Tony snuck out of bed and disappeared into his lab. He had a stroke of inspiration come to him in a dream. He told Jarvis to scrap the plans from earlier and he went to work making a new ring. It took him about an hour and he was crawling back into bed with Pepper with a smile on his face.

"Welcome back." She said in her sleep filled voice.

"I'll always come back to you."

"So sweet." She said snuggling into his chest.

"I'll show you just how sweet I can be." He said kissing her neck and working his way down.

The next day he met up with Natasha and showed her the plans for the ring. After discussing sizes and clarity of the stones she took the flash drive Tony made with his specs and made a phone call.

"Hey Taylor, I got a project for you for a friend of mine. 9 o'clock sound good? Okay, thanks girl. See you then."

"Okay, we need to be at Taylor's by 9 am tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll pick you up in the morning." He said with a smile. "What time?"

"We need to leave by 8:20 to get there."

"Okay." He said following her out of the room.

Later that night, Clint was preparing dinner for Natasha and himself in their floor's kitchen when she came in from her workout. She stole a pinch of cheese as she passed by on her way to the shower. When she came out of the shower she picked up the box sitting on her dresser.

"Thank you for picking this up." She said bringing the box into the kitchen where he was dishing up plates of spaghetti.

"You're welcome." He said sitting the plates down and turning to pull the bread out of the oven.

"Did you look at it?"

He gave her a look in response.

"Of course you didn't." she answered her own question. She put the box down next to his plate. "Go ahead."

He opened the box and whistled. "Wow, Nat." he picked up one of the stone fragments, "Pepper is a lucky lady."

"She's not the only one." She told him with a grin.

"Flattery will get you everywhere." He said closing the box.

"I plan on it." She grinned around a mouthful of food.

The next morning they were up and eating breakfast when there came on knock on the door.

"Jarvis, please let Tony in." Natasha instructed the A.I.

A moment later Tony came walking into their kitchen, he grabbed a muffin off the counter and leaned against the bar.

"I'll be right back and then we can go." She told him leaving the room.

"So finally doing it huh?" Clint asked.

"Yep."

"Got a plan?"

"Sort of, Natasha has been a big help. I really appreciate it."

"Yeah, you owe her big."

"I know, but its well worth it, I hope."

"You have doubts?"

"Not on my end, but sometimes I wonder if she's going to figure out she's too good for me and just walk away."

"Pepper loves you, and believe it or not you deserve the happiness she brings you."

"Maybe she will say yes and one day I'll stop waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"And maybe you two could stop making eyes at each other and we could get going." Natasha said coming around the corner.

"Just waiting on you Natashalie." Tony stuck out his tongue.

"Mature Stark." She said walking over to Clint, who was still seated at the table.

"Don't let Taylor kill him." He said looking up at her.

"What and take that pleasure away from myself?" she said grinning.

"It's like I'm not even here." Tony complained as they kissed goodbye.

"Let's make that statement true." Natasha said pulling Tony out of the room and to the elevator.

When they arrived at an upscale jewelers, Tony was a little shocked.

"I was expecting a little rundown backroom somewhere." He admitted.

"Does it seem like I would associate with a place like that?" she asked as they got out of the car.

"I'm not going to answer that." She glared at him with an eyebrow raised. "So, can we go in?"

"Follow me." She said, leading him up to the third floor. "Hey Tay." She said leading him over to a little old lady who looked like she could be their grandmother.

"Natasha! How good to see you." She came out from behind a counter to pull her into a hug. "It's been a little while. How's Clint?"

"He's good, he's teaching now."

Tony let the ladies catch up for a couple of minutes while he glanced around the showroom.

"And this man needs no introduction, Mr. Stark, please to meet you." She put out her hand for him to shake.

"Mrs. Taylor, thanking you for agreeing to see us on such short notice."

"Well I did have to push back another appointment for this, but I've discovered that anytime Natasha or Clint brings me a project it's worth it." She said with a smile at Natasha.

"She's the best."

"Must be if Barton and you trust her."

"Let's go into my work room and take a look at what you've brought."

Once they entered her work room, Natasha handed her the flash drive.

They waited in silence as she looked over Tony's design. Once she had looked over all the specs she turned her attention back on the waiting two.

"It will take a little time to make, give me some time. Now I understand you are providing your own center stone?" she asked them.

Natasha pulled out a small box and set it on the desk. Taylor took it over to a box on a different table and flipped the light on underneath it. She used forceps to take them out of the box and place them on the table. She picked one up and looked it over.

"Is this?" she asked Natasha.

"Yes."

"And the second one?"

"For you."

"Okay." She put the stones in the box and locked them in a safe before coming back to join them at the desk. "I'll call you when it's done." She said leading them back out into the show room.

"Thank you Mrs. Taylor."

"Don't thank me until you see the finished product Mr. Stark. Natasha, don't be a stranger."

"Thanks, Tay, I'll talk to Clint and we'll have you over for dinner one night."

"I'll hold you to that missy." She hugged Natasha as they left.

A week came and went and Tony was spending most of the time in Bruce's lab trying to keep his mind occupied.

"Hey Natasha, its ready whenever you want to come get it."

"Okay, I'll bring Tony and swing by probably tomorrow, he's anxious to get it." They shared a laugh before ending the call.

At 10am the following day, Natasha escorted Tony back into Taylor's showroom.

"Good to see you Mr. Stark, Natasha."This time they stayed in the showroom when she went to get the ring.

"Ready to see the finished product?" she asked laying the black velvet ring box on the counter.

Tony took a deep breath before picking it up and opening it. He let out a huge grin overtake his features before his awe filled voice let out a "Perfect."

He took the ring out and looking it over, he turned it round and round in his hands. He handed it to Natasha to look at before turning to Taylor.

"Its exactly what I wanted, thank you Mrs. Taylor. You do beautiful work."

"I know." She gave him what could only be called a smirk. "This piece was a pleasure to work on. I know Miss. Potts will love it."

"Here's hoping." He said accepting the ring back from Natasha.

"What do I owe you?"

"It's already been taken care of."

When he opened his mouth to argue, she waved a hand at him. "Natasha and I have an arrangement."

He turned to Natasha but she spoke first, "Consider it you're wedding present."

"Done deal."

Tony continued to look at the ring while the ladies made dinner plans.

As they merged into traffic he spoke again.

"Well the easy part is done."

"She will say yes, Tony."

"Everyone keeps telling me that."

"Everyone knows you two love each other. It will all work out."

He just gave her a tight smile before pulling out the ring to look it over again.

A/N: okay, here is the finding the ring Chapter, up next is the actual proposal.

If you made it this far and are still reading, please review, it makes me smile.


	3. The Proposal

A/N: I own nothing related to Marvel except my dvd's.

And here it is; Tony's proposal to Pepper. All mistakes are mine.

"Home sweet home." Tony said as they pulled up in front of the Malibu mansion.

"As much as I love the Tower, I've missed this place." Pepper said getting out of the car.

After they had unloaded the car and unpacked, Pepper followed him down into his workshop.

"Daddy's home." He said snapping his fingers as Jarvis brought all the computers and robots back online.

He took a seat at one of the tables and Pepper sat at another one and opened the laptop she had brought down with her.

Tony kept an eye on her and the other on his machines coming back to life.

"Stop starring."

"Can't help it, you're beautiful."

She looked up and smiled at him before focusing on her computer as he started working on his.

Since they had been gone for several months, he had Jarvis run a complete systems check. He took the time it was running to engage Pepper in some conversation.

"So would you like to have dinner with me Wednesday night say about 6:30?" he asked.

"Okay, our first date night back in Malibu."

"Is that a problem?"

"Not at all, I'd love to go out with you. You know that."

"So pick you up at 6:00?"

"I'll be waiting." She said with a smile.

On Wednesday night, Tony got ready and went down to his workshop while Pepper was taking a shower. When Jarvis announced it was 5:55 he went up to their bedroom and knocked on the door.

"Wow." He said when she opened the door.

"You like? Natasha helped me pick it out on our last shopping trip."

"It's gorgeous; of course a burlap sack would look great on you."

"Thank you, Tony." She stepped out into the hall and linking arms they left the house for dinner.

They made small talk as Tony drove them to a little Italian place Pepper used to get take out from all the time.

"I love this place, I hope the still have the same cook."

"They do, I checked."

"Always prepared now aren't you?" she joked.

"I try to be."

He got out, tossed the keys to the valet, and then opened the door for Pepper. He escorted her inside where they were promptly seated at a table in the back.

"So how's work?" he asked.

"Fine, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything is good, is everything good with you?"

"Yes. You seem a little distracted."

"Oh sorry, I'm running some simulations back at the house."

At her look, he backtracked. "But I'm putting that aside and focusing on you."

She smiled at him before turning to the waiter that appeared at that moment.

After giving him their wine order, Tony reached across the table and took one of Pepper's hands in his.

"I love you, Pep."

"I love you too." she smiled but he could tell she was still concerned.

"So did Natasha tell you what Clint did to Steve?"

"Another practical joke?"

"Of course, and I had nothing to do with this one."

"That's good to hear, I'm tired of having to protect you from Steve when you actually do deserve it." She grinned when he gave her hand a sharp squeeze and let out a laugh at his look.

At that point the waiter came back and poured their wine, putting the bottle in the bucket of ice. They placed their food orders and he left.

"So what did Clint do?"

"He emptied all of Steve's punching bags and filled them with all these stuffed talking animals, so every time he punched it, they went off. I had Jarvis play back the feed and it was pretty hilarious."

"Well, I'll have to watch it when we get back home."

"Actually I was hoping the night wouldn't end with the restaurant."

"So what did you have in mind?"

"Well, I have something to show you when we get back to the house actually."

"Is that so?"

"It's not what you think; I have a surprise for you."

"Then I can't wait."

They continued talking through the rest of dinner. On the drive home, she reached over and turned the radio on, hoping something would come on that he would sing along to. Very few people, actually just Rhodes and herself, knew that Tony had a great singing voice.

He looked over and saw she was watching him, he knew what she wanted, so giving her a small smile, he started singing to the next song. Halfway through Foreigner's Feels Like the First Time, she started singing along and by the end of it she was laughing more than singing while playing air guitar and he was using the steering wheel as a drum set while still belting out the lyrics.

They were still laughing when he pulled up at the house. He opened her door for her but instead of entering the house he led her around the side, to the cliff's edge.

"Where are we going?"

"I told you I had a surprise for you."

"You're going to push me over the side?"

He stopped and turned towards her; he pulled her in for a kiss but pulled away when she tried to deepen it.

"Surprise." He said.

"I still don't see what the surprise is."

"Oh right." He pulled on their joined hands to lead her deeper into the shadows of the house. They walked to a point about five feet from the house when the area lit up with lights.

"Oh my god." Pepper blinked at the sudden brightness.

"There are motion activated lights all around this side of the house now and also…" he tugged over to the cliff edge, "there are lights leading down to the beach, to light the stairs I had put in so we go down to the beach whenever we like without driving."

"Wow, thanks."

"Do you actually like them, or do you like them like you liked the giant Christmas bunny?"

"No, I love them. Thank you, really." She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned in for a kiss.

"Want to try them out?" he asked.

"Now?"

"Sure, why not."

"It's getting late and it's dark out."

"Hence the lights."

"Okay, let's do this."

They made their way down the stairs and when they got to the bottom, they stepped out onto a deck.

"Nice." She said, looking around at the beach before he led her over to the few stairs it took to get from the steps to the sand.

He stood at the bottom and held his hand out to her, "Walk with me?"

"Of course." She took his hand and stepped onto the sand.

They started walking down the beach, but didn't get that far before Pepper took her shoes off to be better able to walk. They walked along in mostly silence, only talking to point out different things they noticed on the beach.

When they made it back to the deck Tony showed her how he had a shower installed in the corner so they could wash sand off before going back to the house.

"So I was thinking we could add chairs down here, maybe expand this area, put in a grill, just really develop this as an area to relax."

"That would be really nice Tony." She smiled.

They made their way back up to the house. As they were changing out of their dress clothes Tony announced he needed to go check on his simulations.

"Okay, hurry back. I've got plans for you." She said kissing him.

He let out a strangled moan before breaking away from her lips. "I promise I'll be right back, 10 minutes top." He promised kissing her again before leaving the room.

Pepper finished changing into her pajamas and climbed into bed with her Starkpad, to check her email. After forwarding some to Tony, even though she knew he would probably delete them without opening them, deleting a few of her own and responding to a quite a few. She glanced at the clock and saw that it had been twenty minutes and Tony still hadn't come back up.

She pulled on her robe and went down two flights of stairs to his workshop.

"I thought you were going to be right back?" she asked when she walked in.

Tony was sitting at one of the tables with one of the emails she had just forwarded him opened on the screen. He typed something in reply and sent it back to her before he spoke.

"I got distracted when these emails started coming through that apparently needed my urgent reply."

"Why, yes they did." She smiled at him. "It's nice to see you actually taking an interest in the company." She perched on the edge of the table next to his computer.

"Well, I make no promises that this will continue, you know just a slip of judgment."

"Oh sure."

He rolled his chair over so he was between her legs, where she put her feet on the seat and tucked her toes under his butt.

"Cold?" he asked.

"Yeah, I should have put my slippers on."

"Well maybe I can help warm you up." He said holding onto her waist with one hand and letting the other roam under her shirt touching as much skin as he could reach.

"Mhm, sounds nice." She said scooting forward a bit.

"You make me happy, Pep. You make me want to be a better person. I go out and try to make the world a better place, to make it safer for you. I never imagined my life turning out this way and I am so grateful it did. If I could go back and change anything, of all the screwed up things I've done, it would be to go back and realize I loved you years before I actually admitted it to myself. You complete me, Pepper."

He pulled back away a little bit and when he brought his hands out from behind her, he pulled out a ring box too.

"Pepper Potts, will you marry me?" he asked opening the box.

"Tony!" she looked back and forth from the ring to his face a few times. "Of course I'll marry you."

He stood up and pulling the ring from the box, he slipped it on her finger before kissing her deeply.

"I love you." He said.

"I love you too." She said pulling him in for another kiss.

"What do you say we take this upstairs and really celebrate?" he asked against her lips.

"Let's go." She tried to slide off the table, but Tony picked her up and carried her out of the workshop and up the stairs.

They next day back in New York Natasha's phone went off. When she pulled up her messages she saw it was from Tony. She opened it to find a single word, 'YES!' she smiled at the phone and handed it to Clint.

"'Bout time." He said tossing the phone aside and pulling Natasha back into the reclining position they were in before her phone went off. "Now where were we?" he asked reattaching his lips to her shoulder.

A/N: Okay, so thank you to everyone who read this, please hit the review button and drop me a line to let me know what you thought.


	4. Maria's Proposal

A/N: I own nothing Marvel except my dvd's.

So I did Tony and Pepper's Proposal scene so here is Maria's.

Everyone was in Malibu for Tony and Pepper's wedding. They had the ceremony down on the beach and were currently taking pictures while the rest of the guests walked back up the stairs to the house. They all waited around as the photographer called the different groups over to take their shots. They had just finished taking a large group photo when the photographer dismissed the team to get shots of the new couple.

Thor led the group back up the stairs followed by Steve, Clint, Natasha, Maria, Rhodes, and Bruce. When they made it to the top they found Jane and Darcy inside directing the caterers where to put things and helping to set things out.

"Lady Jane!" Thor bellowed causing all the guests to turn towards him.

As they watched Thor embrace Jane like he hadn't seen her in years they had to grin.

"I swear sometimes, she really deserves a medal for loving him." Maria said.

"I think most of the time she doesn't even notice, she's just happy to be with him." Her date said.

"You're right of course."

They went and joined the rest of the team at the large center table reserved for the wedding party.

They made small talk about the ceremony while they waited for the couple to appear.

Seeing someone he needed to talk to walking out of the house, Maria's date excused himself from the table.

Skirting the tables, he caught up with SHIELD director Nick Fury.

"Sir, may I have a moment of your time?"

"Now?"

"Yes sir, I really need to ask you something."

They went back into the house so as not to be overheard or disturbed.

"I know you are aware of my relationship with Maria."

"Yes." Fury kept his answer short, knowing where this was heading.

"I love her, and she says she loves me."

"Do you have reasons to doubt what she says?"

"No, sir. It's just sometimes I wonder what she sees in me."

"I see."

"Look, I promise to take care of here to the best of my abilities. I would like your blessing to ask her to marry me."

"Marry her? You want to marry her?"

"Yes, sir."

"Why are you asking me? She's a strong independent woman."

"I know, but sometimes she still needs to be taken care of and I want to be the one to do that for her. She looks up to you and trusts you like the father she never had. I want your blessing but I don't have to have it."

Fury nodded his head and pursed his lips before giving his blessing.

"Okay, you have my blessing. I know you make her happy, and you are the one man I trust above all others to protect her. If you let her down, I will hurt you."

"Understood, thank you sir." He turned to go back outside.

"Despite your doubts, you are a good man, Steve Rogers."

Steve tossed back over his shoulder, "I'm trying."

Fury followed him back outside and they both stopped as the band leader announced the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Tony Stark.

Steve made his way back to the center table and gave Maria a peck on the lips as he sat back down.

"What did you want with Fury?" she leaned over and asked.

"Oh nothing; just had a couple of questions about something."

They were interrupted by the caterers rolling out carts laden with food. They settled in to eat dinner tried to converse with each other, but they kept getting interrupted by other guests wanting to congratulate the happy couple.

They listened to Rhodes make his best man speech and Natasha made a short maid of honor speech before the band announced the couple's first married dance. Tony escorted Pepper onto the makeshift dance floor and they danced through Sinatra's Embraceable You. They talked and kissed while they danced and when the band struck up the second song, they were joined on the floor by other guests.

Steve stood up and offered his hand to Maria, "May I have this dance my lady?"

"Why certainly my good sir." She grinned at him and let him lead the way to the dance floor.

Steve pulled her in close and they started swaying in time to the music.

"When we get back to New York, will you go out with me?"

She gave a small laugh, "Sure. I'd love to."

After spending 3 days at the Malibu house while Tony and Pepper went off on their honeymoon the group returned to New York.

Steve knew that Maria would need to get back into the swing of things when they returned to New York, so he set up their date for the following Thursday.

At 6pm on the dot, Maria came out of their bedroom to find Steve waiting by the door. He turned around when he heard the door open, but he didn't expect to see Maria in a sleeveless red dress that hugged all her curves.

He stood there in shock for a moment, before Maria took pity on him and sauntered her way across the living room.

"You look amazing Maria."

"You've seen me dressed up before, but thank you. I wasn't sure what you had planned, so I took the liberty of dressing up for you." She explained with a smile.

"It is deeply appreciated, I promise. Of course I think you look amazing in sweats and one of my shirts."

"I know." She said with a smirk, causing both of them to remember a particular rainy New York day where they had both skipped work to hang out together.

He let out a small groan at the memory and offered her his arm. "Ready to start tonight's date?"

"Yes, please. I've been looking forward to this all week."

"Well, my lady, come with me." He said leading her from their room and down the hall to the elevator.

They took the elevator and went up to the roof, which was already set up for dinner.

She took a look around, noticing the table and chairs the cart loaded with covered dishes, and taking in all the twinkling lights crisscrossing the roof.

"Wow, Steve." She said squeezing the hand she was holding.

"You like it?" he asked, a little of the worry showing on his face.

"I love it." She said truthfully.

They went over to the table and after he settled her at the table he opened a couple of the dishes and served dinner.

"It smells good."

"Thanks, I had to fight the team to get it, they kept trying to sneak it out."

Maria laughed at that mental imagine. "You could have made it in our kitchen."

"And let you know what I was up too?" he said with a smile, while pouring wine. "I made enough to leave them some."

"I wouldn't expect anything different from you."

He gave her a grin and pushed a button on his phone to start playing music from a prearranged play list.

They settled into their dinner, letting the conversation flow easily.

"That was good, thank you." She said putting her fork down and pushing her plate back a fraction.

"You're welcome." He said, already having finished his plate but content to watch her eat. "Ready for dessert?"

"I don't think I could eat another bite right now." She said truthfully.

He stood up, walking around to her side of the table he offered her his hand. "Dance with me then?"

"Of course." She took his hand and stepped into him as he wrapped an arm around her waist.

They swayed gently to music, just relishing in the fact that they were able to be together in this way.

"This has been a wonderful evening, I love you." She said.

"I love you too." He said giving her a soft kiss.

They continued to dance through several songs before Maria asked for a break because her feet were starting to hurt.

"New shoes." She explained.

"Well, how about we give your feet a break and have some dessert?" he offered, leading her back to the table.

"Well that depends, what did you make me?" she took her seat.

"Well I was going to make a dirt cake, but a certain pair of assassins ate all the Oreos. So I made a strawberry cake instead." He said placing a piece of cake in front of her, but he kneeled in front of her instead of sitting in his own chair.

"What are you doing? Do you want me to feed you?" Maria asked with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

"No, I just want to look at you. You are so beautiful Maria. I'm lucky to know you, and even luckier to love you. You were one of the first people I saw when I woke up, and even though it wasn't love at first sight, I'm glad what we have grew out of friendship and respect. You are amazing, and I want to be able to show my appreciation for you every day for the rest of our lives." He pulled out a ring, "Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

She had a look of shock on her face and her mouth was open, "Steve." She stopped and gave a slight shake of her head. She saw a flash of panic pass over his face briefly. "Steve, of course I'll marry you."

He gave her the biggest grin as he slipped the ring on her finger. She reached out and grabbed his face pulling it towards her for a long kiss.

When they broke for air, she kept holding onto his face breathing heavily. "I love you."

"I'm starting to believe it." He said with a soft smile.

She gave him a light tap on the back of the head before leaning in to kiss him again. He stood up and since she was still holding onto him, Maria had to stand up too.

"I'll spend the rest of my life making you believe I love you." She told him.

"I look forward to it." He said kissing her.


	5. Wedding 2

A/N: I only own the dvd's not the characters. Here it is, a very short scene from Steve and Maria's wedding day.

"I can't believe this is happening."

"We've been over this Maria, it is happening; today as a matter of fact."

"I know." Maria said in a defeated tone.

"Try to show some excitement." Pepper said walking into the room.

"I am excited, just really nervous. What if something goes wrong?"

"Maria, you are getting married today, to Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America. His best man and his groomsman are a part of the Avengers Initiative. The guest list includes the rest of the Avengers, and multiple high ranking SHIELD employees, including the director himself. There are going to be more weapons in that church than in the armory back at the Tower. Everything will be fine." Pepper listed.

Maria took a deep breath and let it out slowly before nodding her head.

"You're right, of course. Everything will be fine."

At that moment Fury came into the room, "Can we have a moment ladies?"

Natasha pulled Pepper from the room, "Let's go make sure the guys are ready."

"Sir."

"Maria." He warned.

"Thank you for doing this Nick."

"You're welcome, Maria. After all that you've been through these years, both before and after joining SHIELD, you deserve whatever happiness you manage to find in this screwed up world. Just continue to trust him and believe in him and I know he will do the same for you. Steve is a good man, both on and off the field. I wouldn't trust anyone else to take care of you."

"Thank you. I really appreciate everything you have done for me over the years. I know you know I thought the Avenger's Initiative was a joke at first; that you were dooming the planet to satisfy some childish whim. I'm really glad I was wrong about that."

He looked her up and down and very uncharacteristically pulled his second in command into a hug.

"I'm glad you were wrong too." He said as her arms came up to hug him back.

At that moment there was a knock on the door.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but it's time." Said Pepper said as her and Natasha reentered the room.

Fury stepped back from his protégé, and watched as they made final touches to her dress and veil. He offered his arm to the bride as they followed the other two ladies out of the room.

They went downstairs and met the guys in the foyer of the church.

"Wow Maria." Tony said as she came down the stairs.

"You clean up good, Hill." Clint offered with a smile. Natasha walked over and he kissed her on the check. "Looking good Romanoff." He said with a smile.

"You're not too bad yourself Barton." She grinned back while straightening his tie.

Maria stopped at the bottom of the stairs to take another deep breath.

"How is he?" she asked the guys.

"Well considering he was awake most of the night worrying you will leave him standing at the alter—"

Clint cut into Tony's monologue, "He's good." He simplified for her.

Everyone lined up, Tony and Pepper went first followed by Natasha and Clint. Fury offered her his arm once more as they stepped through the door to make the journey to the altar.

He eyes immediately connected with Steve. He was standing there with a smile on his face, belying the nerves he felt were eating him up. He knew she caught the deep breath he took in relief when he saw the corners of her mouth twitch.

When they reached they finally reached the front of the church they waited for the guests to be reseated.

"Who giveth this woman away?"

"I, Nick Fury, give this woman away." He placed Maria's hands into Steve's and nodded at Steve before turning and taking his seat in the front row next to Bruce.

Even though their ceremony was traditional they had chosen to speak their own vows.

"At this time, the couple has elected to speak their own vows."

Maria went first, saying, "I love you, Steve. You are my other half, both on and off the field. You've made me happier than I ever thought I deserved. I remember once how I told you I did not believe in soul mates. I will never forget your reaction. Shocked and a little hurt that I did not think we were. But as time went by, your love made me believe and I stand before you and our friends able to say, yes you are my soul mate and I couldn't be happier."

Maria took a deep breath and accepting the ring from Natasha, she slipped it on Steve's hand.

Steve gave her a smile and squeezed her hands before taking his own deep breath and beginning, "As freely as God has given me life, I join my life with yours. Wherever you go, I will go; whatever you face, I will face. For good or bad, in happiness or sadness, come riches or poverty, I take you as my wife, and will give myself to no other. You know me better than anyone else in this world and somehow you still manage to love me. There is still a part of me that cannot believe that I'm the one who gets to marry you. You complete me, Maria and I love you."

Clint handed him her ring and Steve slid it onto her finger.

"You may now kiss your bride."

They shared a grin before Steve wrapped his arms around her and dipped her as the shared their first married kiss.

The audience laughed and stood up, some of them even applauding.

"I now present Mr. and Mrs. Steve Rogers."

They led the wedding party back down the aisle and outside the church where all their friends gathered around them to offer congratulations.

Later than night, they were on one of Stark Industries handful of planes headed to Paris for their honeymoon. They were going to spend a week in Paris followed by a week in Italy.

"We did it." Maria said as they were making out on the sofa in the back of the plane.

"Yeah we did."

A/N: Thank you to everyone who read, followed, and reviewed this story. I hope I did it justice, since I hadn't planned on continuing it this much.


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